Why this ride
293 km from Karakul’ to Karakul’, about 5 h 26 of riding. It goes by way of Varakhsha Settlement, Chor Bakh Necropolis, Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex and Chasma-i Ayub Khazira.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paikend Settlement and Chasma-i Ayub Khazira
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 293 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 26
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Uzbekistan Silk Road Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 20 km this is Uzbekistan Silk Road Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 20 km
- Named road
- Uzbekistan Silk Road Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Paikend Settlement
The ancient city of Paikend lies in the desert on the edge of the Bukhara oasis, in Uzbekistan, and it is so old that the Silk Road was only one chapter of its story. Early writers called it the city of merchants. It stood on a major route between the Zarafshan river and the Amu Darya, near the sands of the Kyzylkum, and it was a fortified trading town from the early centuries BC, with a citadel, a main town and a market district, at its peak in the early Islamic period. It declined after the eleventh century, as the river shifted and Bukhara took the trade.
Read the complete Paikend Settlement write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paikend Settlement is where the day begins. Next is Varakhsha Settlement.
2. Varakhsha Settlement
Thirty kilometres or so west of Bukhara, beyond the last irrigated fields, the land turns to sand and salt crust at the edge of the Kyzylkum desert, and here a low mound of eroded mud brick rises from the flat ground. This is Varakhsha, once a flourishing town and the residence of the Bukhar Khudats, the pre-Islamic rulers of the Bukhara oasis. It thrived in the early medieval centuries, when the oasis extended further than it does today, and was abandoned around the eleventh century, probably as irrigation failed and the desert advanced.
Read the complete Varakhsha Settlement write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Varakhsha Settlement comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chor Bakh Necropolis.
3. Chor Bakh Necropolis
A short ride west of Bukhara, in the village of Sumitan, a complex of courtyards, mosques and family tombs sits behind high walls, with blue-tiled portals rising above the surrounding houses. This is Chor Bakr, a necropolis built around the grave of Abu Bakr Said, a descendant of the Prophet who died in the tenth century. In the sixteenth century, the Shaybanid rulers of Bukhara built a memorial complex here, with a khanaqah, a mosque and a madrasa, and the cemetery became a resting place for the powerful Juybari sheikhs, a dynasty of religious leaders with great influence over the khanate. The name means "four brothers", referring to the four Abu Bakrs said to be buried here.
Read the complete Chor Bakh Necropolis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Chor Bakh Necropolis. Next is Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex.
4. Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex
Bahauddin Naqshband died in 1389 in the village where he was born, a short ride from Bukhara, and the Sufi order that bears his name went on to spread across Central Asia, India, the Ottoman Empire and beyond. The Naqshbandi order emphasised silent remembrance of God and living a spiritual life within the everyday world, and its founder's tomb became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Central Asia, so much so that locals sometimes call it the Mecca of Central Asia. The complex, with its mosques, minaret, courtyards and the tomb itself, was largely built in the sixteenth century under the Shaybanid rulers and restored in recent decades.
Read the complete Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex, about halfway. Next is Chasma-i Ayub Khazira.
5. Chasma-i Ayub Khazira
North of Bukhara, the green irrigated oasis of the Zarafshan river spreads out in a patchwork of cotton fields, orchards, mulberry trees and villages, and the point named Chasma-i Ayub Khazira lies in this landscape, near the village of Khazara, between Vobkent and Gijduvon. Chashma-i Ayub, the spring of Job, is a name given to several holy springs in Central Asia, linked to the legend that the prophet Job struck the ground with his staff and water gushed forth in a time of drought. The most famous is in Bukhara itself, a mausoleum over a spring, and this site near Khazara may be another shrine of the same tradition, listed as part of the Silk Roads corridor of the Zarafshan valley.
Read the complete Chasma-i Ayub Khazira write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chasma-i Ayub Khazira sits at 127 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex.
6. back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex comes up about 172 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Chor Bakh Necropolis.
7. back through Chor Bakh Necropolis
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chor Bakh Necropolis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 192 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Chor Bakh Necropolis. Next is back through Varakhsha Settlement.
8. back through Varakhsha Settlement
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Varakhsha Settlement write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Varakhsha Settlement, late in the day. Next is Paikend Settlement.
9. Paikend Settlement
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paikend Settlement write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 293 km.
Leg by leg
Paikend Settlement to Varakhsha Settlement
Paikend Settlement → Varakhsha Settlement is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Varakhsha Settlement to Chor Bakh Necropolis
Varakhsha Settlement → Chor Bakh Necropolis is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chor Bakh Necropolis to Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex
Chor Bakh Necropolis → Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex to Chasma-i Ayub Khazira
Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex → Chasma-i Ayub Khazira is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chasma-i Ayub Khazira to back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex
Chasma-i Ayub Khazira → back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex to back through Chor Bakh Necropolis
back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex → back through Chor Bakh Necropolis is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chor Bakh Necropolis to back through Varakhsha Settlement
back through Chor Bakh Necropolis → back through Varakhsha Settlement is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Varakhsha Settlement to Paikend Settlement
back through Varakhsha Settlement → Paikend Settlement is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.